1969 Fargo W300

This has been a dream of mine for quite some time. Having an old and big American v8 truck that I can use for plowing and tow rigging. After years of saving money and not spending on much I finally bought my first home last may and I now have a driveway to plow! Not a big one but hey, it's more fun to use a truck than a snowblower in my opinion.

So the search was on for a few months. I saw this add on kijiji with not much detail that had been there for 2 months, asking 900$ for a fargo. I called and went to see it and, oh my! 318, 4 speed np435 with the granny low 1st, np205 t-case with PTO, dana-spicer 70 closed knuckle front, and another dana 70 dually at the back, all geared 4.88. It has full hydrolic system for the dumping bed and front plow that came with it. Talked him down to 600$ and he even gave me the original owners manual and registration!

It had been a snowplow all its life for the municipality of a small town up northern Quebec which gets a ton of snow every year, Then bought in the 90's by a man who replaced the engine with a rebuilt one, date stamped 1978 (140hp vs 230hp for 1969 - lame), and plowed his road up to his chalet, in the same municipality, then in 2004 bought by another man in the same town to - you guessed it - plow his road. But he didn't use it after going off roading and breaking a leaf spring and a side window after buying it, it just sat. When I picked it up it was the first time in 48 years it left the town it had been in all its life!

So it had been sitting since 2004 out in the forest with no air filter and a broken window...It's in pretty rough shape, but I am here to share and document the repairs, mods and hot rod restoration that I will be doing. I'm am looking foward to advice and info about this build, here are some pics!

When we picked it up, I thought the tires were flat but it was just sunk into the ground about 3", and the tires still hold air after 13 years or more, crazy!

I got some parts from rockauto to make it run and brake, if anybody in Canada has a front main leaf or passenger side window let me know! More updates to come!

Looking forward to this.

Is that Krampus on the driver's door? I think you should name it Krampus.

This thing is awesome.

I like where this is going already!

That is a really cool truck. 

Cool truck.  I think even in Canada, Fargos aren't that common - we rarely see them in the States.

It makes you wonder about someone who broke a window and then let it sit outside in the weather for 13 years - if he could have put it inside or least covered the thing up.

Looking at the truck, 318 cid, Dana everything, I'd have to guess that Fargo is Canadian for Dodge... if so, you need to junk the carburetor and intake manifold in favor of some aftermarket bits to up those dismal numbers. Or, you could source a 440 out of a motorhome and really have some grunt.

I'll also gladly provide a second vote in favor of "Krampus".

Best. Plow. Truck. Name. Ever!!!  

 

The door looks like a squashed bullfrog holding a bag of money. I feel like that MEANS something. 

What's the story behind Fargo? Are they rebranded Dodges? Do they have different sheet metal? Were they built in Canada? 

I know the whole "patina" thing is getting played out, but I would not change one single thing about the exterior of that truck- it's perfect.

Man I miss having a sweptline dodge.  Yes Fargo is a Canada only dodge rebrand.  Is it a LA 318 or a 318 poly?  If it has a super wide intake its a poly.

If you need something and can't find it locally let me know, I've got about 15 sweptlines worth of parts.

Dude, for $600 I'd have bought 2 or 3 of them. (Too bad it doesn't work that way. LOL)

Recon1342 said:

I'd have to guess that Fargo is Canadian for Dodge...

Back in the day, Dodge trucks in Canada were Fargos, Ford trucks were Mercurys (and some Ford cars were Meteors), Canadian Pontiacs used Chevrolet frames and drivetrains.  There may have been other ones I can't think of right now.

The 318 in this truck looks like a LA engine, the Poly 318s were earlier and also had unusual scalloped valve covers.

In reply to stuart in mn :

Even the 318 was a pretty stout motor for its time. I'm just curious looking at the top end of that motor... it almost looks like a one-barrel Carter parked on that manifold. A good carb and manifold would do wonders for that truck.

You have no idea how envious I am of you.

Nice start.

That thing looks awesome! There is a lot of room in the engine bay for swaps it seems too....

I think that's the Tasmanian devil.

stuart in mn: This is the first Fargo I have seen that I can remember. Very rare around here, I barely knew what Fargo was before I got this. Most of them have rusted to the ground before I was born, they salt the roads from november to april around here.

Recon1342: I want to see how the 318 runs, and plow with it that way for a year or two until it becomes roadworthy enough to become a towrig for my other projects. If I like the 318, it will get magnum heads and a hot cam, dual plane intake with a 4 barrel, or a tuneable efi. But I'm sure a 440 would be more powerful, and have better towing fuel economy, and I am leaning more towards that for now. It is a date -stamped 1978 318 block, painted dark green with a machinist badge on it with a rebuild number. The PO told me it was swapped some time in the 90's by the guy before. The heads and valve covers are blue and I think they are the original. The carb is a 2 barrel stromberg ww3, and the intake manifold is cast iron with a big W cast on top. Haven't seen pics of another LA engine with the W on the intake. And I haven't pulled the valve covers to check head codes yet

Mazdeuce: Fargo Motor Car Company started in 1913, and Chrysler bought the company in 1928. They later bought Dodge, and they sold fargo trucks as rebadged dodges in Canada until 1972. Mine was built in Canada (Ontario) I believe from the VIN. No differences I think, appart from the badges and kph speedo. The Carb has a coolant line to heat it up so that the throttle doesn't freeze or stick in extreme cold, and the 1969 chrysler shop manual I got has no mention of it for the carter bbd, bbs or holley carbs available. Dodge's marketing colour was red, and Fargo was blue. On the door it is the tasmanian devil airbrushed on both doors, done about 10 years ago by the previous owner's friend. He also painted the truck green, before that it was a nice dark blue, and original colour is a lighter blue.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯: I like the patina also, but I hate the colour! Not sure what to do about that for now. I want to wash it, but all the vegetation growing on the paint is too cool to me. Fenders are welded on by the way, all the way around..

Oldopelguy: Awesome! I'll see if I can find some parts in this country and if not, I'll let you know for sure, thanks!

Thank you everyone for all the comments! So about two weeks ago, a friend and I pulled it into the garage and removed the plugs. We wanted to see if the engine was stuck but we didn't have the big 1''+ socket or anything useful to spin the engine so we tried to crank it.  Nothing, no click or sound. I checked the wiring and the fuse box is burnt and melted in one socket. So I ordered a universal fuse box and will redo the wiring. I also ordered a starter relay since the original one was one solid block of corrosion. We removed the distributor, I had never seen points before but after some googling we cleaned and adjusted them to spec, installed the plug wires in the correct location and poured some gas in the carb. I crawled under with a screwdriver and here is was happened.

Sorry for the crappy, long videos but it's all I got! 

https://youtu.be/9G6L1K2b01s

https://youtu.be/GYmolguuEkg

Next is carb removing, cleaning and rebuilding, stay tuned!

So the carb needs a rebuild. I thought about dropping it at a bike shop to get it cleaned, but I wanted to try something first. I bought 6$ worth of pinesol and let it soak for 24h, no water mix, then I pressure washed it. I was pretty surprised at the results!

Before:

After:

The carb was filthy, full of varnish and rust. The acid in the pinesol removed the rust, and all the crud cleaned up very easily. I suggest dropping it in a baking soda/water solution to neutralize when you are done. On the outside it is still corroded from 48 winters and doesn't look so fresh, but the inside is clean.

I got the rebuild kit from hygrade, looks pretty good, will start the rebuild soon. Any tips on these strombergs are apreciated! Progress has now stopped since I promised myself I would finish the garage before anymore work, about 2-3 weeks to go. Maybe I could turn this into a grosh project thread ;) 

Here is a better picture of the tasmanian devil:

Pine sol is my favorite way to clean carburetors. Strong enough to dissolve varnish, but won't destroy the seals or carb body.

This is awsome. 

W should be an industrial engine stamping.  Same with turquoise paint, typically the only small blocks that color were the industrial units.

Order a starter for a 1998 dakot5.2. Gear reduction ministarter. Much better.

Bump the timing a few degrees from factory spec. Really helps.

Also, ngk plugs really seem to work well in mopars.

In reply to GillesDecourse :

Ah, now the Fargo name makes sense! For the life of me I was wondering why some marketing exec would name a brand after (what I presume is) a frozen, barren, and desolate wasteland.  

Dusterbd13 said:

This is awsome. 

W should be an industrial engine stamping.  Same with turquoise paint, typically the only small blocks that color were the industrial units.

Order a starter for a 1998 dakot5.2. Gear reduction ministarter. Much better.

Bump the timing a few degrees from factory spec. Really helps.

Also, ngk plugs really seem to work well in mopars.

Interesting! After some research I read that industrial engines were fitted to some motorhomes and bigger trucks, so that could be the case. The fact that the short block was swapped out means I would only have the crap heads, and none of the steel crank and full floating wrist pin goodness. Thanks for the awesome tips! Unfortunately I got champions for now, I knew I should have gone for ngks!

Nifty rig.  Good luck with it.  Keep the door the way it is.  Dusterbd13 is a Mopar guy, and knows his shizzle.   Want to see how FaruGo with this project.

Great truck! That Stromberg WW carb is kind of a turd. I've rebuilt mine a few times, but there's a burr in the accelerator pump bore that makes it piss fuel everywhere. I need to deal with that.

I have a '66 sweptline with the 318 Poly.